MADISON, Wis. — When Traevon Jackson missed a free throw and Lenzelle Smith Jr. streaked behind the Wisconsin defense and caught the pass in transition, Smith appeared on his way to a dunk that would all but twist the dagger in the Badgers.

But then Smith, enduring a challenging senior season to say the least, appeared to try to draw contact at the rim and missed the layup. Then he rebounded his miss and, while trying again to jump and score, had his feet slip out from under him as he was hit from behind by Amir Williams. He fell, was called for traveling, and with 8.4 seconds left, Wisconsin had a chance to win — and the Buckeyes yet another chance to lose a game they could have won.

“You wouldn't expect anything less with what we’ve gone through this year, right?” guard Aaron Craft said. “That’s just how our year has gone. The ball really hasn’t bounced our way too many times.”

Craft was smiling as he spoke because, for a change, the ball did bounce the Buckeyes’ way yesterday.

Wisconsin got its last-second shot, but Sam Dekker’s three-point attempt missed and No. 24 Ohio State survived 59-58 at the Kohl Center in a matchup of slumping Big Ten heavyweights trying to change their luck.

LaQuinton Ross scored 13 points and Amedeo Della Valle had 11 off the bench to lead the Buckeyes (17-5 overall, 4-5 Big Ten), who won for only the second time in seven games after starting the season 15-0 and were coming off a one-point overtime loss at home to last-place Penn State.

No. 14 Wisconsin (17-5, 4-5) lost for the fifth time in six games after starting the season 16-0, and for the third straight time at the Kohl Center, where the Badgers once were nearly invincible. Freshman Nigel Hayes led the Badgers with 17 points.

The Buckeyes’ first victory over a ranked opponent since they won at Marquette on Nov. 16 came two days after the players met among themselves to air out whatever issues might have contributed to their slide.

“It meant a lot,” Ross said. “It meant guys aren’t scared to come out and express their feelings if some guy’s not doing this right or some guy’s not doing that right. Everybody was able to talk, and I think we got everything we needed to squashed.”

With coach Thad Matta shaking up the starting lineup for the first time this season and bringing guard Shannon Scott off the bench — at Scott’s request, Matta said — the Buckeyes also found the wherewithal to finish off a game that was like so many lately. They had led in the second half or overtime of each of their five Big Ten losses.

A field-goal drought of eight minutes put them seven points behind Wisconsin with less than 71/2 minutes remaining, but they held the Badgers without a field goal for the last 6:24 and Craft scored all seven of his points in the final 3:55.

Wisconsin squandered an opportunity to win the game at the foul line by missing 7 of 12 free throws in the last 7:35. Hayes missed 4 of 6.

“That’s a big problem,” he said.

Craft’s first score, a three-pointer with 3:55 left, cut the Buckeyes’ deficit to 54-53. His driving layup at 3:11 made it 55-55. His two free throws at 1:36 gave them a 57-56 lead.

Williams made the front end of two one-and-ones after that to extend the lead to 59-57. Jackson made the first of two free throws with 16.5 seconds left to set the stage for the roller-coaster finish.

After Smith turned the ball over and Wisconsin called a timeout, “I almost stepped back and said, ‘Oh my God, here we go again,’ ” Ross said. Penn State had won by one point Wednesday night on D.J. Newbill’s foul-line jumper over Craft with three seconds left in overtime.

“We got in the huddle and looked each other in the eye and said, ‘Hey, we need one stop,’ ” Craft said. “We couldn’t do that the last game out. We wanted to find a way to get it done today.”